Visualization of senile plaques by using MRI and PET

Makoto Higuchi

Molecular Imaging Center, National Institute of Radiological Sciences

　　Numerous investigations have clarified the central roles played by amyloidogenic proteins, including amyloid β peptide (Aβ) and tau proteins, in the molecular cascade of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis.　These revelations provide a rationale for detecting amyloid deposition in living brains to diagnose AD at a prodromal stage and to assess efficacy of emerging anti-amyloid treatments. Noninvasive imaging technologies in conjunction with brain-penetrating amyloid tracers have offered quantitative mapping of amyloid lesions in clinical and preclinical AD.　Among such innovations, positron emission tomography and single-photon emission computed tomography are potentially the most promising approaches, owing to high sensitivity of the radioactive detection.　Non-radioactive imaging systems, as exemplified by magnetic resonance imaging, are likely to permit high-resolution mapping of brain amyloid, while radical improvements in both hardware and tracer compound will be required for application of these methods to human subjects.

Address correspondence to Dr. Makoto Higuchi, Molecular Imaging Center, National Institute of Radiological Sciences (4-9-1, Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba, Chiba 263-8555, Japan)